Rather than a 22nd of May feature freeze, that freeze is now not coming until the 22nd of June. All of the other milestones for this next X Server update have also been pushed back by approximately one month. Rather than delivering this important software update on the 15th of July, it is now planned for release on the 17th of August. The first beta release will not even come until the 20th of July, five days after the final release was to be expected.

Besides the feature freeze on the 22nd of June, the X Server 1.7 branching is set for the 6th of July, the code freeze and first beta on the 20th of July, a second beta on the 3rd of August, and the release candidate on the 10th of August. X Server 1.7 and X.Org 7.5 will then hopefully make it out the door a week later on the 17th of August.

This latest delay is due to X Input 2 not yet being ready for general usage. However, input expert Peter Hutterer expects to merge X Input 2 and XKB2 into the master X Server code-base by the 14th of June. Therefore, X.Org 7.5 is being delayed so that it can incorporate these major input improvements that have a long time in the making. Multi-Pointer X will also now be possible for the masses of Linux desktop users.

It is unfortunate that there is already another delay in the X.Org 7.5 / X Server 1.7 release schedule, but at least there is better communication with this latest delay. With the previous delay the revised release schedule was not even determined until weeks after the update was supposed to be released. This time around when there is a delay, there is now communication just days later informing developers, end-users, and other X.Org stakeholders about the change. At least this is a step in the right direction.

With that said, the feature freeze for Ubuntu 9.10 is now just a week after this X.Org update is supposed to be released. With another delay, we may not see X.Org 7.5 in this next Ubuntu release -- though X Input 2 is already available via a PPA.

The announcement regarding the updated X.Org 7.5 release plans can be found on the X.Org mailing list.

Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the web-site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience and being the largest web-site devoted to Linux hardware reviews, particularly for products relevant to Linux gamers and enthusiasts but also commonly reviewing servers/workstations and embedded Linux devices. Michael has written more than 10,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics hardware drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated testing software. He can be followed via Twitter and Google+ or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.